More of Christ Less of Me

Fail to Recognise

If you have been a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed my fascination with rainbows. I simply adore God’s creation and daily take time to admire it. It has been nothing but God’s blessing to be able to live in places where I get a good bird’s eye view of His Masterpiece! To me rainbows give me hope reminding me of God’s very presence, that He will never leave me. So whenever it rains, and I notice a part of the sky that is so dull and grey with the sun rays spreading brightly in another part of the sky, like a child, I run to the balcony or to the garden and start searching… And often, there it would be bright and boasting in its splendour of the various hues in a perfect arc. Sometimes only a part of this arc is seen but sometimes another rainbow encircling it can be seen! Beauty!

Someone alerted me that it was a gay symbol and suggested that perhaps I should be careful. No way! The rainbow is something that is so beautiful and has been created my one and only true and living God. There is no way that I am going to overlook that just because a certain category of people have adapted it as their sign!

We adults can learn so much from kids. When the rain pours, we think of the clothes on the line or the clothes piled up in the laundry bag. When the thunder cracks and the lightening blinds our eyes, we are worried about the electrical and electronic items around us. How often do we notice the sun rays giving us light in the midst of it? When was the last time you went searching for the rainbow, like a child when you see the weather change?

Such is with our lives. Sadly we fail to recognise the many blessings that God has bestowed upon us. In each situation, our focus goes onto the negatives, on to the not so good stuff and we become anxious and worried! How can we protect ourselves is our biggest worry. No, we aren’t the only ones who do that.

The disciples who were with Jesus failed too! (Yes yes yes, that gives us some hope!!) They were in the boat and they saw the waters leaping into the boat in the midst of strong winds. Driven with fear by the storm, they ran to Jesus who was fast asleep! Jesus had nothing to worry about. How did He respond to them? He first calmed the winds and the raging waters. Then He asked one short question –

“WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?”

A piercing question this is, if you ask me. How often do I fail to recognise His blessings and His presence in a situation? How often do I panic by looking at the circumstances? How often do I overlook the fact that He is indeed sovereign, supreme, almighty etc? If you ask me the qualities and characteristics of God, yes I can reel lists after lists… But how often do we truly believe in these attributes and live accordingly? How often do we want to depend on the work of our hands?

Another instance when the disciples failed to recognise the greatest of blessings – of Jesus’ presence… was when He appeared to them after His death and resurrection (Luke 24:36-39). They were “startled and frightened”. How did Jesus respond?

“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?”

We fail to recognise the blessings in our lives let alone count them! Sadly, the greatest blessing we overlook is that of God’s presence. We want to plan every minute detail for as long of a period as we can, failing to recognise that He is with us. In fact this is nothing but a lack of faith and disbelief in His promises, in His Word!!

As much as Jesus challenges us, there are times He Himself was troubled (more on that in another post!) and He also comforts us, reassures us….

And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.

But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. (Luke 12:29 NKJV)

and tells us how to not be troubled:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me”. (John 14:1)

Let’s not fail to recognise our blessings, let’s begin to count them and never overlook the biggest blessing of all – our Sovereign God’s presence with us, who promises not to leave us nor forsake us, who promises to add our needs to us! If we trusted in Him, our hearts will be troubled only for fleeting moments… Our focus then won’t be on our troubles but we will be able to be thankful in ALL circumstances and most of all be able to recognise His very presence in the midst of it all!

Look for the rainbows in the midst of the rains and the cloudy dark skies and perhaps even in the midst of the thunder!!!